Severe weather presents a significant risk to property and life. In particular, tornadoes, given both the magnitude of their destructive power and the limited warning available, pose a serious danger.
An agency within the United States Department of Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), operates the NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards network of radio stations. These stations broadcast continuous weather updates based on conditions monitored by one or more local National Weather Service (NWS) offices. Radios with NOAA weather capability may be used by individuals to monitor these updates.
Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) is a protocol utilized by the NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards network, as well as the Emergency Alert System (AES). SAME messages include digital “headers” that encode, among other information, event codes. Each of these SAME header event codes corresponds to a specific event (e.g., avalanche warning, earthquake warning, flash flood warning, tornado warning, etc.).
Individuals that desire to remain appraised of current weather conditions may utilize a radio having NOAA weather capability. Such a radio may be configured to monitor for SAME messages and switch on or switch to the appropriate channel when an alert is received. A significant issue associated with such capability, however, is the sheer number of alerts that a typical radio having NOAA weather capability may receive. Many of these alerts are of little or no concern to the average individual.
Unlike many of these alerts, tornado warnings in particular, however, are often of great concern. In geographic areas such as “tornado alley” (i.e., the region of the United States located between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains), tornadoes are a frequent and life threatening event. In such areas, individuals routinely utilize radios having NOAA weather capability to monitor for alerts, particularly tornado warnings. Unfortunately, the volume of alerts received makes continuous monitoring impractical (e.g., while sleeping).